Gang members arrested in NoVa

Immigration authorities have arrested 30 alleged gang members and associates in Northern Virginia, all but one of them foreign nationals, and charged them with an array of crimes, including entering the United States illegally, federal officials said.

The three-day operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted members and associates such Latino gangs as MS-13, Mexican Pride and Southside Locos, the immigration agency said in a statement. Twenty-nine of those arrested are men and one is a women. One is a U.S. citizen and the others are from El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico.

Charges against them include assault, grand larceny, destruction of property, carrying a concealed weapon and re-entering the county illegally after being deported, authorities said. They said the 29 foreign nationals will face deportation proceedings in the near future or after they have been prosecuted on the criminal charges against them.

“ICE will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to target and dismantle transnational gangs to rid our streets of the drugs and violence associated with gangs,” Scot Rittenberg, a top official in ICE’s office of Homeland Security Investigations, said in a statement.

"These arrests will have a lasting and positive impact on the community.”

The immigration agency said it was aided in the operation by Fairfax County police officers and sheriff’s deputies.

The 1,200 troopes headed to the border are a drop in the bucket. That many cross in a day over hundreds of different trails, destroying wild lands and habitat leaving tons of garbage. Double fence heavily patrolled by a road in the middle.

Fat useless bloggers with your irrelavent comments. Hide behind your computers cause you cant face the truth. This country was built by immigrants legal and illegal. Its how it was and its how it will always be.

You are so right mossmillenium, I am a 2nd generation US citizen, all of my grandparents came from Russia. Gangs are horrible I agree, we need to get rid of them, bu tplease don't lump everybody together.

I find it interesting that people are commenting that we shouldn't "lump everyone together" referring to gang members and other illegals. Sorry, but isn't that what you are doing? You're lumping legal immigrants and illegals together and asking that they be treated equally. How unfair to those who have been waiting for years to go through our naturalization process, take the oath of allegiance to this country and become legal citizens. There is a difference. I don't care if some of the illegals are "the salt of the Earth." They still broke the law, have no allegiance to this country, refuse to assimilate, refuse to learn English, and wave the flag of a foreign country in our streets while demanding rights to which they are not, and should not be, entitled. They need to be identified and deported. Then, if they truly want to be legal citizens, (which they don't seem to be concerned about since they've been here for years illegally) they need to get in the back of the line after facing stiff penalties for breaking the law. Secure the border and protect our sovereignty as a Nation.

Mossmillennium you say "This country was built by immigrants legal and illegal. Its how it was and its how it will always be.
" So learn from the past...when immigrants slip up no one is there to catch you but the jails. Correct this useless gang mess, if you don't the law will, it is how it will always be. Those immigrants that hate hearing negative comment toward them. Don't protect what is wrong. Everyone loves stories of an immigrant making a positive life for the future.

Where are the Hispanic organization at!!!! Why don't I see any Hispanic churches, community clubs, group, organization making a stand and protecting there own. Where are the interviews, meetings, and neighborhood watch programs for there neighborhoods. Because obviously the arrest happened in a majority Hispanic community.